During the week of Aug 26 – Sept 1, 2013, our Canadian Junior National Powerlifting team will be traveling to Texas to compete at the World Junior Powerlifting Championships lead by Head Coach Avi Silverberg. Qualifying on this team is seven of our Nation’s strongest men and women under the age of twenty-three. In order for our Canadian athletes to qualify for a World Championship they need to have won their weight class at Nationals; a feat in and of itself that deserves much admiration. However, once an athlete reaches the pinnacle of success within Canada, they seek to take their skills internationally to compete against the World’s best.

Our current Team Canada athletes come from diverse backgrounds with a wide-range of experiences. Already on the team we have previous World competitors and medalists, but also a host of first-time members looking to advance their powerlifting careers. As we draw closer to the World Junior Championships, I will profile each athlete individually in order to showcase our homegrown powerlifting heroes. It is important to recognize that these junior athletes are already role models and leaders within the Canadian powerlifting community.

TONY GRANVILLE

Tony Granville will be competing in the Junior 74k class against twelve other competitors. Granville has lofty goals of securing a medal at this year’s Championships. Currently, Granville is going in third overall, but is closely followed by Alexander Erikssonfrom Sweden who is only 12k behind. The competition for the podium should be quite the battle!

Granville is living proof that you don't have to be big to lift big weights. Granville is the current Canadian National record holder for the squats, lifting 275.5k/606lbs - an astonishing 3.58 times his body-weight. I encourage you to do the same calculation for your own body-weight and squat to see if you come close! Granville also boasts an impressive 170k/385lb bench press and 267.5k/589lb deadlift.

Granville is not new to the powerlifting game. He has competed at seven competitions, two of which were National Championships. As well, Granville qualified and competed at the 2011 World Junior Championships in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, where he placed 8th overall. Granville comes from Newfoundland where some of the Nation’s strongest powerlifters are born and bred; Granville is no exception. In fact, Granville will be accompanied by fellow Maritimer and teammate Stephen Price – who will be profiled in the days to come.

Outside of powerlifting, Granville is heading into his 4th year of study at Memorial University in St John's, where he will be graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Check out some of Granville's training videos as he prepares for the World Championships .